Hmm, I don't really mind if someone smokes really.. If they want to they can their own decissions. I don't think I would because Im an athlete and if I did i wouldnt be able to run for crap.

I ask some of my friends the underage smokers why they started, they said because they were feeling a lot of stress and it's a good stress reliever. Why would you continue? Well I couldn't answer that, if someone REALLY wanted to quit they could easily (My point of view.)

well enhaling arsenic and over 4000 harmfull chemicals 600 of which are very deadly like rat poison and plutonium210 (yeah same stuff is in a nuclear bomb)
causes bad breath and teeth. turns your skin yellow. desolves your lungs and liver. kills brain cells and makes you stupid. has 15 milagrams of tar in one cigaret.

I quit smoking about five years ago now. Before that, I would smoke off and on for a year or two at a time. I tried my first cigarette when I was about 15 (just curiousity, really), but didn't really get hooked until I started bar-hopping with friends in college. When everyone around you is smoking, it's easy to just pick up the habit on your own for no reason at all.

Despite (or because of) the fact that it's a stimulant, it tends to make you feel less stressed during tough times. I don't know the biology behind it, but I can account directly for the results.

Eventually I stopped because I wanted to do things like ski and play tennis and, especially at high-altitude in Colorado, found that it was impossible when I was hacking up half my lung while doing so.

kanadajin - you say it would be easy for people to quit if they wanted to. All I have to say to that is: you've obviously never been addicted to a substance of any kind. Especially if your lifestyle is amenable to cigarettes (or alcohol or pot or even coffee), then it's really tough to quit, even when you want to. I had to completely remove myself from all my smoking friends and avoid bars and restaurants where smoking was prevalent before I could quit.

And even after five years of not smoking, I still crave one from time to time.

It is a nasty and debilitating habit, and because of its addictiveness, I would strongly advise avoiding it.

End of public service announcement.

------------

Edit: After thinking about it for a bit, I thought I would say something to make this thread a little more on-topic.

I was just going to say that for those of you that are bothered by second-hand smoke, be forewarned that (in at least some estimates) close to half the population of Japan smokes. And although non-smoking areas are increasing, smoking is still allowed in many, many places.

There's plenty of occasions, too, where you'll be sitting in the 'non-smoking' area of a restaurant and the guy at the very next table is sitting in the smoking area.

So, obviously, it doesn't have much meaning.

If you are a smoker, don't take this to mean that Japan is a smoker's paradise. Cigarettes here can be very expensive. That's one reason they make such a popular gift for a Japanese person.

Last edited by Mukade on Tue 06.06.2006 9:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

Subj: What do you think of dogs as pets?
Body: People who have dogs as pets are completely disgusting. It's wrongfully subjugating a gentle creature into a life of servitude. Everyone who has a dog out there deserves to be shot in the kneecaps.

Subj: Who likes <insert something here>
Body: I'm just writing this post to say that I think whoever answers "me" to the topic of this post is a complete scumbag, and you should go take a flying leap off of Mt Fuji lololz

Subj: What do you think of dogs as pets?
Body: People who have dogs as pets are completely disgusting. It's wrongfully subjugating a gentle creature into a life of servitude. Everyone who has a dog out there deserves to be shot in the kneecaps.

Subj: Who likes <insert something here>
Body: I'm just writing this post to say that I think whoever answers "me" to the topic of this post is a complete scumbag, and you should go take a flying leap off of Mt Fuji lololz

Seriously, stop with the moralist crusades. People do what they like.

Way to be an H-Bomb.
Everyone's dancing, having a good ol' time and you show up....boom...everything's dead.

I used to smoke. I quit because my girlfriend wanted me to. I actually worked in a tobacco store just before meeting her and thoroughly loved cigars and good quality cigarettes, i.e. not from America except for American Spirit cigarettes.

My impression is that American cigarettes in particular are filled with crap. Not only are they terrible for you, but they smell horrible because of what is in them. I still love the smell of cigars and pipe tobacco and also good quality cigarettes.

Probably even good quality tobacco is bad for you to inhale. I knew a few people who really did only smoke on special occasions... I don't think I could do that.

A happy person siting with friends in a culture that smokes, smoking and relaxing is probably healthier than a person who is not smoking but completely stressed from all his achievement goals.

I've seen plenty of happy elderly pipe smokers, not many cigarette smokers.

One thing I lack from stopping smoking, is I don't have the regular "meditation" that smoking required me to have.

I'm allergic to cigarete smoke. I'm alergic to the residue of cigarete smoke. Being in the same room as a smoker who smoked, but hasn't bathed or washed their clothes since they smoked will make my eyes burn, my face itch, and I'll start sneezing even if it's been hours since the smoker lit up. If someone is smoking in the same room as I am in, even if the room is an indoor football field, I'll have trouble breathing.

I really don't care what smokers do in private, or encourage them to stop for their own good. But it's not a personal vice, it affects everyone around them. So it should be regulated to the user's private residence and special smoking areas. Just as you can't go releive yourself wherever you want, because it stinks, it pollutes, it's unsanitary, the same reasons apply to smoking.

Subj: What do you think of dogs as pets?
Body: People who have dogs as pets are completely disgusting. It's wrongfully subjugating a gentle creature into a life of servitude. Everyone who has a dog out there deserves to be shot in the kneecaps.

Subj: Who likes <insert something here>
Body: I'm just writing this post to say that I think whoever answers "me" to the topic of this post is a complete scumbag, and you should go take a flying leap off of Mt Fuji lololz

Seriously, stop with the moralist crusades. People do what they like.

I agree. These threads are getting ridiculous and, quite really, pathetic. I can think of so many ways I would rather spend my time than bitching and arguing about smoking. Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go watch some concrete dry.

yep "opinion" threads are just a gateway to anarchy. one opinion begets another begets a race riot, begets and "HBOMB" and then we all go away wondering who the people on the other side of the posts really are.

but for my 2 cents.. hahaha, you thought i was gonna say something didn't you? we I won't..:o